Long Term Test: 2014 Acura MDX Tech FWD Wrap-up

With our folks now retired, and their need for two vehicles at home completely unnecessary, it seemed prudent to part ways with our big, hulking Acura SUV. Even though it has treated us well for the last two and a half years, trading the MDX in sooner rather than returning it at the end of its lease seemed to make much more financial sense. Acura's MDX is a perennial favorite among middle-class buyers, providing a solid mix of luxury accouterments and daily driver practicality. These were largely the very reasons that the MDX was so popular with our family, this being the fifth that we have owned. During its time with us, the MDX served many purposes, having been a road trip car multiple times, including at least one trip where our pup came along for the ride, a work horse, and just a daily driven grocery-getter.

Long Term Test: 2014 Acura MDX FWD Tech post #5

Update #5
Current mileage: 15,564

The MDX has become the road trip car of choice. In 2014, it was used to take the whole family to the Monterey Peninsula where we enjoyed an extended Thanksgiving holiday. Last year, we used it to hit up San Diego with our bikes in tow, taking a break from our busy lives to enjoy a weekend biking around Coronado Island. This year, the MDX was called upon to serve as transportation for my wife and me along with our rescue pup on a weekend excursion to the avocado and wine growing town of Fallbrook, CA. I will cover the details of that trip in a separate post, but for this latest update on the MDX, I want to focus on two key aspects: puppy transport and ease of cleaning.

Long Term Test: 2014 Acura MDX FWD Tech Post #4

Update #4
Current mileage: 12,857

Since our last update, I have not spent as much time with the MDX as some of our other long-term vehicles, but what time I have spent continues to be enjoyable. Despite my aversion for all things SUV, there is no arguing that the MDX is an incredibly capable and comfortable family hauler alternative with as much or as little seating or cargo space as one could possibly need. Of course, one of my favorite features of the MDX has nothing to do with comfort, but everything to do with style and safety.

Our 2014 MDX, along with all of Acura's current line-up, comes with the brilliantly implemented, if awkwardly named, JewelEye LED headlamps. The MDX's five-lamp arrangement is the more prevalent setup in the line-up as opposed to the ten-lamp arrangement that is unique to the RLX. On the MDX, the five individual LED elements are each wrapped in a separate housing with its own focusing lens that is then wrapped up within the larger headlight cluster. During the day, smaller upper elements light up all five elements and serve as a daytime running lamp (DRL). As the sun sets, the low-beams come on and light up the outer three lamp elements. The two inner lamp elements serve as the car's high beams.

Looking at the LEDs, you feel like they are quite small and must not be able to provide all that much light, which was a real concern for me when I first saw the MDX in photos. However, after using the LED headlamps in nighttime driving, I am fully convinced that LEDs are, without a doubt, the right way to go in the future. Similar to xenon high intensity discharge headlamps, LEDs provide a whiter, more natural light. What separates HIDs from LEDs, however, is how that light is dispersed. HIDs are limited by the shape of their reflectors, which is used to disperse the light from the HID bulb and must have a notched pattern cut-off at the top to prevent blinding oncoming traffic. With LEDs, because you have more control of the individual lighting elements, it is possible to tune and overlap the light output of each element to cast just the right amount of light to give you the best balance between distance and side coverage. On the MDX, I feel like the LEDs light up the sides of the road much better than the HIDs of previous generation models and all without sacrificing the visibility down the road. As an added bonus, the LEDs have a much subtler cut-off that feels more natural than the often harsh cut-off necessary with HIDs.

Needless to say, if I am cruising around in the dark of night, I feel like the LED headlamps on our long-term MDX or RLX are at the top of my list of options if given the choice. Plus, it does not hurt that they look pretty cool when they are all lit up.

Road Trip: San Diego (sort of) by storm

San Diego skyline off in the distance

Mother Nature can be a real pain in the ass, especially if you enjoy activities that are heavily weather dependent. During the days leading up to our trip, I was checking the weather obsessively. The plan was for my wife and I to go skydiving on Saturday morning, but there was a greater than 50% chance of rain that was threatening our chances. As the week proceeded, the probability of rain seemed to drop ever so slightly and by Thursday evening, when I picked up our long-term MDX for the weekend, the forecast was looking promising, with less than 10% chance of rain in the area surrounding our jump zone. Fingers-crossed, I loaded our bikes into the back of the MDX along with our luggage and after work on Friday, we hit the road headed south.

Long Term Test: 2014 Acura MDX FWD Tech post #3

Update #3
Current mileage: 8,374

The MDX continues to serve us well as the beast of burden. Our family vacation to the Monterey Peninsula in Northern California had five of us in the MDX for an extended drive of over five and a half hours, but we arrived in total comfort with a weekend's worth of luggage in tow. However, despite the long stretches on open highway, the MDX's fuel economy continues to disappoint, averaging a rather paltry 24 mpg over the course of the 330 mile drive that took place largely on flat, open, non traffic-congested roads. Admittedly, our average speeds were frequently around 70 mph and the added weight of five adult passengers plus their luggage are likely contributors to that low number. Of course, the massive fuel tank meant we did not have to fill up again until well into the return leg of that trip, although we probably could have done the entire trip on a single tank of fuel.

Unlike our several previous MDXs, this latest one is not fitted with AWD, which might have been a reasonable excuse for the reduced fuel economy. We opted for the FWD version specifically because there is little need for the extra weight and fuel economy penalty of an AWD system here in sunny Southern California and because the extra performance benefits would hardly be appreciated given that this car is basically a daily driver. Still, while it feels relatively spry for such a large vehicle, there is a torpidity to the way the car responds to changes in direction that was not present in the SH-AWD equipped predecessors. And without any kind of mechanical wizardry to try to make the big beast turn better, it simply lumbers through corners, squealing its tires in protest if pushed even a little outside its comfort zone. This behavior exhibited itself in droves when we pressed the MDX with any fervor through the famed 17-Mile Drive, a series of windy coastal roads lined by enormous homes with stunning views of the Pacific Ocean.

Of course, a two-ton SUV should not be expected to handle like a sports car. As a daily driver, the MDX is absolutely fantastic, delivering a comfortable ride with safe and familiar car-like handling characteristics. Even the much maligned infotainment setup, which I discussed in detail in our recent RLX long-term update, is simple enough to operate on a daily basis without any real frustration. If you want a vehicle that can seat seven passengers in relative comfort but do not want the stigma of driving a minivan, but do not mind the glances of scorn for being in an SUV, the MDX stands out at the top of the heap of available choices.

Road Trip: Monterey Bay

It had been many decades since I had visited Monterey Bay. My last trip would have been when I was about 8 or 9 years of age and we took a family trip to San Francisco, stopping in Monterey along the way. I recall rather vividly that night, my dad white-knuckling the rented Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme along the then much less well-developed 17-Mile Drive in near total darkness while we sang along to the endless stream of Chinese pop songs pouring from the cassette player. Our hotel was difficult to find because it had changed names literally within the week before our trip and in the age before email and smartphones were popular and readily available, the hotel had not gone through the trouble of updating all of its guests.

This time around, while it was still a family trip, things were significantly different. We would depart during the day to ensure that there was plenty of daylight along the way and our ride was not a rented car, but rather our trusty and spacious 2014 Acura MDX.

Long Term Test: 2014 Acura MDX FWD Tech post #2

Second update
Current mileage: 4,963

Lately, most of my time with the MDX has been as a passenger. From the passenger seat, the MDX is still extremely comfortable, but it offers a lot more time to examine the material quality of the cabin. While most surfaces live up to the touch test, a few pieces that would be less noticeable when one is focused on the task of driving are under far more scrutiny from the right side of the cabin. Take the controller for the upper screen, which hardly gets much attention since I tend to rely on a combination of the touchscreen and voice control from behind the wheel, but playing with it from the passenger seat makes it feel slightly less premium. The motions and actions are all well-damped, but the controller itself begins to feel slightly plasticky after extended use. If Acura were to craft this from real metal, or at the very least, surround it with a veneer of real metal, it would go a long way towards making if feel much nicer.

Of course, the backseat is quite comfy. Spending several hour-long car rides back there does not feel at all like being a second-class traveler, unlike flying economy-class these days. In fact, leg room is more than plentiful and the ability to adjust the seat fore and aft offers even more flexibility to stretch out. While there are not a ton of amenities without the Rear Seat Entertainment Package, it is still a plenty enjoyable place to be and even full-size adults should have no problems spending a couple of hours back there, watching the scenery go by.

As a beast of burden, the MDX is excellent, with a huge amount of available cargo space. The airport pickup or Goodwill donation run is absolutely no contest for the MDX's rather cavernous rear hatch. With the third row seats folded, I was able to easily fit several suitcases and folding the second row seats offered up room to fit 6 large boxes and several odd sized objects. Hopefully by the next update, I'll have had a chance to throw our bikes in the back to see how easy they are to carry and transport, ideally in conjunction with a longer road trip for a little more time behind the wheel.

Brand Profile: Acura

This post marks the start of our brand profile series of articles. Each post takes an in-depth look at a single brand that sells vehicles in the US market and shares not only some of the history of the brand's vehicles, but also the brand's current standing through the lenses of enthusiasts. We start with a brand that is near and dear to our hearts and, as they recently reminded us for April Fools, alphabetically first. Our family has owned 16 Acura cars since 1992 with everything ranging from the smallest 2-door Integra to the 7-passenger MDX. Our relationship with the brand has long been based on the value proposition of excellent, well-equipped cars for significantly less than the competition. However, as the years have progressed, our own impression of the brand have also changed.

In March of 1986, Acura sprung forth from the minds of Honda's executives and became the first Japanese luxury marque to be introduced in North America. Acura started with two vehicles: the Legend sedan, and the Integra, which was available as both a five-door and three-door hatchback. Eventually, that grew into a full line-up of cars and a few SUVs. Over time, the brand evolved from a distinct premium brand into what felt increasingly like upscale Honda vehicles, especially as the engines and platforms were shared across the two brands.

Image courtesy of Drive to Five

Always taking a different approach to engineering than their competitors, Acura focused on cars that were fun to drive, even if they did not fit the definition of a traditional performance car. The Acura Integra, a small front wheel drive hatchback that also spawned a sedan, quickly gained a following among the tuner crowd for its easy tunability and surprisingly capable chassis right out of the box. The Legend, especially the second generation coupe, showed that a luxury car did not have to give up any driving dynamics to coddle its passengers in total comfort. To demonstrate just how capable their cars were, they also introduced the world to the NSX, the first all-aluminum supercar that could be daily driven with the reliability and ease of repair of a Honda Accord.

Long Term Test: 2014 Acura MDX FWD Tech post #1

Long-term Introduction
Current Mileage: 1,857

Our new 2014 MDX (Left) with the old 2011 MDX (Right)

Our family has actually owned at least one version of each generation of MDX to date. The MDX has always been the luxury workhorse in the family, providing ample space to haul boxes of documents for work, or seven people and their luggage for vacation. Each successive MDX our family has owned has gotten bigger, but it has also gotten better in some way. The 2014 MDX that we picked up on the same day we picked up our 2014 RLX is better than the 2011 MDX we previously owned in virtually every way, except for the fact that this is the first MDX we have owned that does not have AWD.

Wanting to find out if the new MDX could still hustle as quickly as the old one, even without SH-AWD, we took the car out on the Palos Verdes Peninsula to thrash on it a bit. Here, there are some great twisty roads that run right along the coast, offering not only a fun place to drive, but spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean and Catalina Island. With the MDX's new Integrated Dynamics System (IDS) and transmission set to sport, we made our way up and over the hills to plunge down towards the water, me in the MDX and East Brother following in my S2000 with GoPros attached.

Road Trip: Lake Elsinore and the Ortega Highway

The legendary Ortega Highway connects the coastal freeways near San Juan Capistrano to the desert highlands of the the city of Palm Desert, passing through the inland resort community of Lake Elsinore. Exit from the infamous Interstate 5 freeway and head away from the California coasts into a barren landscape, dotted with random bits of vegetation. Before long, you find yourself climbing and the greenery begins to get denser, until you are high up enough that the temperature has gotten a few degrees cooler, and the air is just a bit crisper. Having only ever taken this road at the helm of our family MDX during a detour on our way down to San Diego, I endeavored to return, preferably on two wheels, to make full use of its ample curves. Luckily, my time spent reviewing the BMW R1200GS presented me with the perfect opportunity, if not quite the perfect bike.